The Italian parliament did not do much bowling.
With eighty-four yes votes and 58 no votes, the upper house of the Roman parliament declared foreign surrogacy a crime on Wednesday. According to the new law, the children of Italian couples born to foreign surrogates are not considered legitimate and therefore cannot be registered in Italy.
The bill was initiated by the Italian Brothers (FdI) government party, was adopted by the House of Representatives in July 2003, and has now been voted on by the Senate.
In 2004, the parliament decriminalized surrogacy in Italy. The law punishes persons who receive a surrogate mother with a prison sentence of three months to two years, as well as a fine of between six hundred thousand and one million euros.
The current tightening makes the ban on surrogacy universal. He wants to stop the practice of Italians going abroad to hire surrogates, from Spain to countries outside Europe.
According to the recently passed law, foreign surrogacy is considered a crime even if it is not a crime in the given foreign country.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the president of the Italian Brothers, welcomed the voting results on her social media page.
"With its final approval in the Senate, the bill finally became a law, declaring surrogacy a universal crime. Common sense dictated legislation against selling women's bodies and children. Human life has no price and does not represent a commodity," wrote Meloni.
The opposition, which voted against the introduction of the law, spoke of a useless and unconstitutional legislation, reminiscent of the Middle Ages and affecting "rainbow families".
MTI
Cover image source: Pixabay.com
